WIMBLEDON, England – When The Match That Would Not End finally did, at 70-68 in the fifth set, after a record 11 hours, 5 minutes spread over three days, the customary handshake between opponents simply would not suffice.

So when John Isner of the United States won the longest match in tennis history and went to the net to greet Nicolas Mahut of France, who-for lack of a better word-lost Thursday at Wimbledon, Isner pulled Mahut in for a hug.

There were 980 points overall, and Mahut won more, 502-478. There were 711 points in the fifth set, and Mahut won more, 365-346.

But Isner won the most important point of all: the last one, which happened to be a rather nondescript backhand winner down the line. It allowed Isner to break Mahut’s serve for only the second time all match. That also was the only service break of the seemingly interminable fifth set, ending a run of 168 consecutive holds that began in the second set, all the way back on Tuesday.

Essentially, the match lasted as long as it did for two reasons: Neither man could break the other’s serve, and Wimbledon does not employ a tiebreaker in the fifth set.

“Especially once the match got past, you know, 25-all, I wasn’t really thinking,” said Isner, who led the University of Georgia to the 2007 NCAA team tennis championship. “Hitting a serve and trying to hit a forehand winner is the only thing I was doing.”

When it did conclude, Isner dropped to the court, rolled on his back, and kicked his legs in the air. After the players briefly spoke, Mahut sat in his changeover chair, stared blankly ahead, then draped a purple-and-yellow Wimbledon towel over his head.

“The numbers,” Mahut said, “speak for themselves.”

To wit: The 183 games and total time, both far beyond the existing records of 112 and 6:33. The 138 games and 8:11 in the fifth set alone, broke the record. Isner’s 112 aces in the match, and Mahut’s 103, both much higher than the old mark of 78. The combined 490 winners (Isner had more, 246-244) and only 91 unforced errors (Isner had more, 52-39).

“We played the greatest match ever, in the greatest place to play tennis,” said Mahut, who is ranked 148th and went through qualifying. “I thought he would make a mistake. I waited for that moment, and it never came.”

Instead, Mahut faltered-46 hours, 39 minutes after the first point was played-and later acknowledged his abdominal muscles were aching Thursday. Both men showed remarkable resilience, even if they moved increasingly slowly.

“I’m tired watching this,” kidded three-time Wimbledon champion John McEnroe, who took it in from a third-row seat. “It’s Herculean what they’re doing. … I had to come pay my respects.”

As he basked in the crowd’s standing ovation, the 25-year-old Isner made sure to point in the 28-year-old Mahut’s direction and applaud, too.

And there’s no rest for the weary now. Isner is due at Court 5 today at noon (4 a.m. PDT) to face 49th-ranked Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands, whose own first-round victory normally would be considered something extraordinary, because it went to 16-14 in the fifth set.